Kivshenko battle of Sinop description of the painting. Harmony of battles: Aivazovsky's naval battles
Special place Aivazovsky's legacy is occupied by works dedicated to the exploits of the Russian fleet, which constituted his original historical record, starting from the battles of the time of Peter I and ending with the contemporary events of the Crimean War of 1853-1856 and the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878 for the liberation of the Balkans. Since 1844, Aivazovsky was a painter of the Main Naval Staff. November 18, 1853, during the Crimean War of 1853-1856, a naval battle took place between the Russian and Turkish squadrons in the Sinop Bay. The Turkish squadron of Osman Pasha left Constantinople for landing operation in the Sukhum-Kale area and made a stop in the Sinop Bay. The Russian Black Sea Fleet had the task of preventing the active actions of the enemy. A squadron under the command of Vice-Admiral P.S. Nakhimov (3 battleships) during cruising duty discovered the Turkish squadron and blocked it in the bay. Help was requested from Sevastopol. By the time of the battle, the Russian squadron had 6 battleships and 2 frigates, and the Turkish squadron had 7 frigates, 3 corvettes, 2 steam frigates, 2 brigs, 2 transports. The Russians had 720 guns, and the Turks - 510. As a result of the battle, which lasted 4 hours, the entire Turkish fleet (with the exception of the Taif steamer) was destroyed. The Turks lost more than 3 thousand people killed and drowned, about 200 people. were captured (including the commander of the fleet). The Russians lost 37 people. killed and 235 wounded. With the victory in the Sinop Bay, the Russian fleet gained complete dominance in the Black Sea and thwarted the plans for the landing of the Turks in the Caucasus.
As soon as the rumor about the Battle of Sinop reached Aivazovsky, he immediately went to Sevastopol, asked the participants in the battle about all the circumstances of the case. Soon, two paintings by Aivazovsky were exhibited in Sevastopol, depicting the Sinop battle at night and during the day. These were the paintings of the Naval Battle of Sinop on November 18, 1853 and the Battle of Sinop. The night after the battle.
The exhibition was visited by Admiral Nakhimov; highly appreciating the work of Aivazovsky, especially the picture of the Battle of Sinop. The night after the battle. He said: "The picture is extremely well done."
Having visited the besieged Sevastopol, Aivazovsky also painted a number of paintings dedicated to the heroic defense of the city.
Calm sea. 1863.
The sea was his element. Only he was opened the soul of the artist. Each time standing at the easel, Aivazovsky gave free rein to his imagination. And the canvas embodied exactly what he saw in advance with his inner eye.
Thus, Aivazovsky entered contemporary art, guided by his own laws of artistic worldview. The artistic thinking of the master is decorative; it is due to his childhood, his blood, his lineage. Decorativeness does not interfere at all, but contributes to Aivazovsky in his precise emotional characteristics of the depicted. The perfection of the result is achieved by the virtuosity of the most extraordinary tonal nuances. Here he has no equal, which is why he was compared with Paganini. Aivazovsky - maestro of tone. The canons of the European school assimilated by him are superimposed on his natural, purely national decorative flair. This unity of the two principles allows the artist to achieve such a convincing saturation of the light-air atmosphere, and a melodious color harmony. Perhaps it is precisely in the uniqueness of such a merger that the magical appeal of his paintings lies.
Among the waves.
In continuous communication with the sea - a symbol of freedom, space - a long and glorious life of the master passed. And the sea, sometimes calm, sometimes turbulent or stormy, generously gave him an inexhaustible wealth of impressions. Aivazovsky painted the picture Among the Waves, which was the pinnacle of his work, when he was 80 years old.
“Above the abyss, gray furious waves rush about. They are immense, they rush upward in anger, but black, lead clouds, driven by a storm wind, hang over the abyss, and here, as in an ominous hellish cauldron, the elements rule. The sea is bubbling, bubbling, foaming. Shaft crests sparkle. Not a single living soul, even a free bird, dares to see the rampant storm... Deserted...
Only a great artist could see and remember this truly planetary moment when you believe in the primordial existence of our Earth. And through the roar and roar of the storm, a ray of sunshine breaks through with a quiet melody of joy, and somewhere in the distance a narrow strip of light glimmers ”(I.V. Dolgopolov).
The artist depicted a raging element - a stormy sky and a stormy sea covered with waves, as if boiling in collision with one another. He abandoned the usual details in his paintings in the form of fragments of masts and dying ships lost in the boundless sea. He knew many ways to dramatize the plots of his paintings, but did not resort to any of them while working on this work. Among the waves, as it were, the Black Sea continues to reveal in time the content of the picture: if in one case an agitated sea is depicted, in the other it is already raging, at the moment of the highest formidable state of the sea element. The mastery of the painting Among the waves is the fruit of a long and hard work of the artist's entire life. Work on it proceeded quickly and easily. Obedient to the hand of the artist, the brush sculpted exactly the shape that the artist wanted, and laid the paint on the canvas in the way that the experience of skill and the instinct of a great artist, who did not correct the brushstroke once put, prompted him.
Apparently, Aivazovsky himself was aware that the painting Among the Waves is much higher in terms of the execution of all previous works. recent years. Despite the fact that after its creation he worked for another two years, arranged exhibitions of his works in Moscow, London and St. Petersburg, he did not take this painting out of Feodosia, he bequeathed it, along with other works that were in his art gallery, to his native city of Feodosia.
Until old age last days Aivazovsky's life was full of new ideas that excited him as if he were not an eighty-year-old highly experienced master who painted six thousand paintings, but a young, novice artist who had just embarked on the path of art. For the lively active nature of the artist and the preserved unblunted feelings, his answer to the question of one of his friends is characteristic: which of all the paintings painted by the master himself considers the best.
“The one,” Aivazovsky answered without hesitation, “that stands on the easel in the workshop, which I began to paint today ...”
In his correspondence of recent years there are lines that speak of the deep excitement that accompanied his work. At the end of a large business letter in 1894 there are these words: "Forgive me for writing on pieces (of paper). I am painting a big picture and am terribly worried." In another letter (1899): "I have written a lot this year. 82 years make me hurry ..." He was at the age when he was clearly aware that his time was running out, but he continued to work with ever-increasing energy.
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Sinking
Ship.
Speaking about the work of Aivazovsky, one cannot help but dwell on the great graphic heritage left by the master.
One of the best graphic works of the artist is the picture of the sinking ship.
During his long life, Aivazovsky made a number of trips: he visited Italy, Paris and other European cities several times, worked in the Caucasus, sailed to the shores of Asia Minor, was in Egypt, and at the end of his life, in 1898, made a long journey to America . During sea voyages, he enriched his observations, and drawings accumulated in his folders.
Aivazovsky always painted a lot and willingly. His drawings are of great interest both in terms of their artistic execution and for understanding the artist's creative method. Among pencil drawings, works dating back to the forties, by the time of his academic trip of 1840-1844 and sailing off the coast of Asia Minor and the Archipelago in the summer of 1845, stand out for their mature skill.
In the 1840s, Aivazovsky worked extensively in southern Russia, mainly in the Crimea. There he created a graphic series of sea views in sepia technique. The artist made a light sketch of the landscape with a graphite pencil and then painted in sepia, the brownish color of which varied subtly from saturated to light, completely transparent. To convey the brilliance of the water surface or sea foam, the artist often used whitewash or scratched the top layer of specially primed paper, which created an additional light effect. One of these works View of the city of Nikolaev is in the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.
The drawings of this pore are harmonious in terms of the compositional distribution of masses and are distinguished by a strict elaboration of details. Large sheet sizes and graphic completeness speak of great importance, which Aivazovsky attached to drawings made from nature. These were mostly images of coastal cities. With sharp hard graphite, Aivazovsky painted city buildings clinging to the ledges of mountains, receding into the distance, or individual buildings he liked, composing them into landscapes. Using the simplest graphic means - a line, almost without using chiaroscuro, he achieved the finest effects and accurate transmission of volume and space.
The drawings he made during his travels always helped him in creative work. In his youth, he often used drawings to compose paintings without any changes. Later, he freely processed them, and often they served him only as the first impetus for the implementation of creative ideas. The second half of Aivazovsky's life includes a large number of drawings made in a free, broad manner. In the last period of his creative work, when Aivazovsky made sketches of his travels, he began to draw freely, reproducing with a line all the curves of the form, often barely touching the paper with a soft pencil. His drawings, having lost their former graphic rigor and distinctness, acquired new pictorial qualities.
As Aivazovsky's creative method crystallized and vast creative experience and skill accumulated, a noticeable shift took place in the process of the artist's work, which affected his preparatory drawings. Now he creates a sketch of the future work from his imagination, and not from a natural drawing, as he did in the early period of creativity. Not always, of course, Aivazovsky was immediately satisfied with the solution found in the sketch. There are three versions of the sketch for his latest painting "Explosion of the ship". He strove for the best composition solution even in the drawing format: two drawings were made in a horizontal rectangle and one in a vertical one. All three are made with a cursory stroke, conveying the scheme of the composition. Such drawings, as it were, illustrate the words of Aivazovsky related to the method of his work: "Having sketched a plan of the picture I conceived with a pencil on a piece of paper, I set to work and, so to speak, give myself to it with all my heart." Aivazovsky's graphics enrich and expand our familiar understanding of his work and his peculiar method of work. For graphic works, Aivazovsky used a variety of materials and techniques.
The sixties include a number of finely painted watercolors, made in one color - sepia. Using usually a light filling of the sky with highly diluted paint, barely outlining the clouds, slightly touching the water, Aivazovsky laid out the foreground widely, in a dark tone, painted the mountains of the background and painted a boat or ship on the water in a deep sepia tone. With such simple means, he sometimes conveyed all the charm of a bright sunny day on the sea, the rolling of a transparent wave on the shore, the radiance of light clouds over the deep sea distance. In terms of the height of skill and subtlety of the transmitted state of nature, such sepia by Aivazovsky go far beyond the usual idea of watercolor sketches.
In 1860, Aivazovsky painted this kind of beautiful sepia "The Sea after the Storm." Aivazovsky was apparently satisfied with this watercolor, as he sent it as a gift to P.M. Tretyakov. Aivazovsky widely used coated paper, drawing on which he achieved virtuoso skill. These drawings include "The Tempest", created in 1855. The drawing was made on paper, tinted in the upper part with warm pink, and in the lower part with steel gray. With various methods of scratching the tinted chalk layer, Aivazovsky well conveyed the foam on the crests of the wave and the glare on the water. Aivazovsky also masterfully drew with pen and ink.
View of the city of Nikolaev. 1843. Fragment.
Chesme battle. 1848.
Chesme battle is one of the most glorious and heroic pages in history Russian fleet. Aivazovsky was not, and could not be, a witness to the event that took place on the night of June 26, 1770. But how convincingly and authentically he reproduced on his canvas the picture of a naval battle. Ships explode and burn, fragments of masts fly up to the sky, flames rise, and scarlet-gray smokes mix with clouds through which the moon looks at what is happening. Its cold and calm light only emphasizes the hellish mixture of fire and water in the sea. It seems that the artist himself, when creating a picture, experienced the rapture of the battle, where the Russian sailors won a brilliant victory. Therefore, despite the fierceness of the battle, the picture leaves a major impression and resembles a grandiose fireworks display. The plot for this work was an episode of the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. For decades, Russia has waged wars with Turkey for possession of the Black and mediterranean seas. Two Russian squadrons that left Kronstadt, after a long transition across the Baltic, passed the English Channel, rounded the shores of France and Portugal, passed Gibraltar and entered the Mediterranean Sea. Here they met with the Turkish fleet, which was then considered the strongest in the world. After several military skirmishes, the Turkish raft took refuge in the Chesme Bay in a panic. Russian ships closed the exit from the bay and during the night battle almost completely burned and destroyed the Turkish fleet. On the Russian side, 11 sailors died, on the Turkish side - 10,000 people.
It was an unprecedented victory in the history of naval battles. In memory of her, a medal was knocked out, Count Alexei Orlov, who commanded the squadrons, received the title of Chesmensky, and in Tsarskoye Selo Catherine II ordered to erect a monument to this battle - the Chesme Column. It still stands proudly in the middle of the Big Pond. Its marble trunk is completed by an allegorical sculpture - a double-headed eagle breaking a marble crescent.
A painter of the Main Naval Staff (since 1844), Aivazovsky takes part in a number of military campaigns (including Crimean War 1853-1856), creating many pathetic battle paintings.
Aivazovsky's painting of the forties and fifties is marked strong impact romantic traditions of K.P. Bryullov, which affected not only the skill of painting, but also the very understanding of art and the worldview of Aivazovsky. Like Bryullov, he strives to create grandiose colorful paintings that can glorify Russian art. With Bryullov, Aivazovsky is related by brilliant painting skills, virtuoso technique, speed and courage of performance. This was very clearly reflected in one of the early battle paintings Chesma battle, written by him in 1848, dedicated to an outstanding naval battle. Aivazovsky in the same 1848 painted a picture of the Battle in the Strait of Chios, which, with the Battle of Chesme, made up a kind of pair-diptych, glorifying the victories of the Russian fleet.
After the Chesme battle took place in 1770, Orlov wrote in his report to the Admiralty College: "... Honor to the All-Russian fleet. From June 25 to June 26, the enemy fleet (we) attacked, defeated, broke, burned, let it into the sky, into ashes turned ... and they themselves began to be dominant in the entire archipelago ... "The pathos of this report, pride in the outstanding feat of Russian sailors, the joy of the victory achieved was beautifully conveyed by Aivazovsky in his picture. At the first glance at the picture, we are seized by a feeling of joyful excitement as from a festive spectacle - a brilliant firework. And only with a detailed examination of the picture becomes clear the plot side of it. The fight is depicted at night. In the depths of the bay, burning ships of the Turkish fleet are visible, one of them at the time of the explosion. Enveloped in fire and smoke, the wreckage of the ship is flying into the air, which has turned into a huge blazing bonfire. And on the side, in the foreground, the flagship of the Russian fleet rises in a dark silhouette, to which, saluting, a boat approaches with the team of Lieutenant Ilyin, who blew up his firewall among the Turkish flotilla. And if we get closer to the picture, we will distinguish on the water the wreckage of Turkish ships with groups of sailors calling for help, and other details.
Aivazovsky was the last and most prominent representative of the romantic trend in Russian painting, and these features of his art were especially evident when he painted naval battles full of heroic pathos; they could hear that "battle music", without which the battle picture is devoid of emotional impact.
“History has never known such a decisive battle with such unusual results” (Fleet Admiral I. S. Isakov)
The Industrial Revolution of the mid-19th century brought about unprecedented changes in military affairs: new technical means warfare meant the decline of the concept of "armed nation", put forward French Revolution, and the birth of the "nation at war" doctrine, which has not lost its relevance to this day. The first armed conflict of the new era is considered to be the Crimean War (another name is the Eastern War) of 1853–56. Each of the battles of this war opened new page world military history- the battle of Sinop was no exception. Here are some facts about this naval battle.
The last battle of the sailing fleets
The battle that took place on November 30, 1853 near the city of Sinop on the Black Sea coast of Turkey between the Turkish and Russian squadrons is considered last fight the era of sailing fleets and the first - with the use of bomb cannons that fired explosive shells.
Turkish forces
The forces of the Turkish squadron, which arrived in Sinop from Istanbul and was preparing for the landing of a large amphibious assault in the Sukhum-Kale region ( modern name- Sukhum) and Poti, consisted of two steam frigates, seven sailing frigates, three corvettes and four transports.
ship type |
Name |
Number of guns |
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Sailing frigate |
"Nizamiye" |
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Sailing frigate |
"Carry Zefer" |
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Sailing frigate |
"Forever Bahri" |
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Sailing frigate |
"Damiad" |
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Sailing frigate |
"Kaidi Zefer" |
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Sailing frigate |
"Aunni Allah" |
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Sailing frigate |
"Fazli Allah" |
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"Nezhm Fishan" |
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"Feize Meabud" |
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"Gyuli Sefid" |
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Steam frigate |
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Steam frigate |
"Erkile" |
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Total |
A.P. Bogolyubov, “Destruction of the Turkish fleet in the battle of Sinop. 1854". Unfortunately, the only available images of Turkish ships are paintings by Russian artists.
The flagship of the Turkish squadron was the frigate Aunni Allah. According to Russian-language sources, Osman Pasha commanded the Turkish ships, in turn, English-language sources (in particular, the book by R. Ernest Dupuy and Trevor N. Dupuy " The World History wars") is named as the commander of Hussein Pasha. Perhaps Hussein Pasha took command of the squadron already during the battle, after Osman Pasha was wounded.
Turkish Admiral Osman Pasha. The portrait is given in the book H. M. Hozier "The Russo-Turkish War" without date
The Turkish coastal defense consisted of six artillery batteries (one eight-gun, three six-gun and two batteries of unknown composition), armed with 38 guns.
Russian forces
The Russian squadron consisted of six battleships, two sailing frigates and three steam frigates.
I. K. Aivazovsky, “Review Black Sea Fleet in 1849." The second in the column is the battleship "Rostislav", which participated in the Battle of Sinop
ship type |
Name |
Number of guns |
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Battleship |
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Battleship |
« Grand Duke Konstantin" |
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Battleship |
"Three Saints" |
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Battleship |
"Empress Maria" |
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Battleship |
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Battleship |
"Rostislav" |
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"Kulevchi" |
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Steam frigate |
"Odessa" |
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Steam frigate |
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Steam frigate |
"Khersones" |
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Total |
Vice Admiral Pavel Stepanovich Nakhimov commanded the Russian squadron, and the battleship Empress Maria was the flagship.
Osman Pasha's dilemma
The battle of Sinop had a kind of prelude. Having approached Sinop on November 23 and found a detachment of Turkish ships in the bay, Admiral Nakhimov decided to block the port with the forces of three battleships (Empress Maria, Chesma and Rostislav) until reinforcements arrived from Sevastopol. A significant part of historians condemns the Turkish admiral for the fact that, having a significant advantage in artillery (472 guns against 252), he did not attack Russian ships. However, the authors teaching aids in naval tactics, they are more loyal to Osman Pasha. In their opinion, Admiral Nakhimov, blocking the port, left the Turkish "colleague" two options for the development of events: either, taking on board the landing force, break through to Sukhum-Kala and Poti, or try to destroy Russian ships and then take on board the landing force. The first option could lead to significant casualties among the landing force, and in the second case, the Russian ships could retreat without accepting the battle, and, waiting for the return of the Turkish ships to the port, resume the blockade. Therefore, many specialists in naval tactics consider the decision of the Turkish admiral to wait for reinforcements to be absolutely justified.
Wake columns - the key to a successful attack
After the arrival of reinforcements, Admiral Nakhimov decided to attack the Turkish squadron. Since he saw the main threat to his ships in Turkish coastal guns, capable of using red-hot cannonballs in battle, tactics were chosen to minimize the time of the battle. To reduce the time to reach firing positions, Russian ships had to move in two wake columns (the right column (as part of the battleships Empress Maria, Chesma and Rostislav) was led by Nakhimov himself, the left column (as part of the battleships Paris, Veliky Prince Konstantin "and" Three Saints ") - Rear Admiral F. M. Novosilsky). To reduce the time of fire contact, the opening of fire was planned from a distance of 1.5–2 cables (about 270–370 meters).
I. K. Aivazovsky, "120-gun ship" Paris "". "Paris" and the battleships of the same type "Grand Duke Konstantin" and "Three Saints", sheathed below the waterline with steel sheets and armed with bombing guns, made up the main fighting force of the Russian squadron
Destruction of an entire squadron in just 3.5 hours
The battle began at 9:30 a.m. with the signal "Prepare for battle and go to the Sinop raid" on the battleship "Empress Maria" raised. The active part of the battle began at 12:28, when the Turkish flagship Auni Allah fired the first salvo at the Russian ships. The battle lasted up to 16 hours and ended with the complete defeat of the Turkish squadron. As a result of the battle, the Navek Bahri frigate, two corvettes (Nezhm Fishan and Gyuli Sefid) and the Erkile steam frigate were destroyed, and six frigates (Aunni Allah, Fazli Allah, Nizamiye, Nesimi Zefer", "Damiad" and "Kaidi Zefer") and the corvette "Feyze Meabud" - washed ashore. The total losses of the Turks amounted to 3,000 people killed and wounded, as well as 200 people captured, including Admiral Osman Pasha.
Dismissal - "reward" for saving the ship
The only surviving Turkish ship is the Taif steam frigate under the command of Captain Adolf Slade (sometimes another spelling is Slade), an Englishman who converted to Islam (Russian-language sources do not have an unambiguous opinion about the Muslim name of the captain, calling him Yahya Bey or Mushaver -pasha").
No less controversial is the story of the breakthrough of the ship from Sinop. Contrary to popular belief, the Taif did not leave the Sinop Bay immediately after the start of the battle, but went on a breakthrough only at about 13 hours (according to another version - 14 hours). It is known for sure that the ship participated in the battle - among the crew there were 11 killed and 17 wounded. According to the most common version, upon returning to Istanbul, Captain Adolf Slade was dismissed from service with deprivation of his rank for "unworthy behavior." According to legend, Sultan Abdulmejid was very dissatisfied with the flight of the Taif, saying: "I would prefer that he did not flee, but died in battle, like the rest".
Adolph Slade. Image first cited in Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, undated
Since the time of Peter the Great, the sea has been for Russian Empire a window to Europe and a guarantee of future development and therefore one of the most important battlefields. And in the person of Aivazovsky, the state found an excellent singer of its victories. The artist himself was fascinated by the Russian fleet and willingly took government orders. Not without reason, having barely graduated from the Academy of Arts, he was sent by Emperor Nicholas I himself to accompany his son, Grand Duke Constantine, on a practical voyage across the Baltic. Throughout his life, Aivazovsky repeatedly addressed the topic of wars. Let's remember the brightest canvases.
Battle in the Strait of Chios June 24, 1770
Battle in the Chios Strait on June 24, 1770. 1848. Feodosia Art Gallery. Aivazovsky
One of the battles Russian-Turkish war, which occurred near the island of Chios in the Mediterranean Sea. The Russian squadron, led by Alexei Orlov, defeated the Turks, doubly superior in strength. The painting depicts the key moment of the battle - the collision of the ships "Saint Eustathius" and "Burj-u-Zafera".
Chesme battle on the night of June 25-26, 1770
Chesme battle on the night of June 25-26, 1770. 1848. Feodosia Art Gallery. Aivazovsky
The most important battle of the same war, thanks to the victory in which Alexei Orlov received the honorary title of Chesme. It happened the day after Chios - the Turks retreated from the Chios Strait to the Chesme Bay under the cover of coastal batteries. The picture shows the moment when one of the Russian fireships sets fire to an enemy ship, and the boat with the crew that left the burning fireship approaches our flagship Three Hierarchs.
Naval battle at Vyborg on June 29, 1790
victorious battle during Russo-Swedish War- and again in the reign of Catherine the Great! She knew how to select commanders. The Russian fleet was commanded by Admiral Vasily Chichagov. The pandemonium at sea was huge - only from the Swedes participated 35 battleships and frigates and 366 small ships. For the victory, Chichagov became the first of the naval commanders to be awarded the Order of St. George, I degree.
Naval Battle of Navarino October 2, 1827
Naval Battle of Navarino, October 2, 1827. 1846. Naval Academy them. Kuznetsova
The battle of Navarino, which took place in the bay of the same name in the Ionian Sea, near the Peloponnese, is a rare example of a 19th-century battle in which England, France and Russia fought on the same side. Their enemy was the fleet Ottoman Empire, who opposed the attempts of Greece to free itself from its dominion. Aivazovsky captured the flagship "Azov", on which, by the way, Lieutenant Nakhimov and midshipman Kornilov, then unknown to anyone, served. The ship is damaged, but is boarded by a Turkish ship.
Brig "Mercury", attacked by two Turkish ships
Brig "Mercury", attacked by two Turkish ships (in 1829). 1890. Feodosia art gallery
The battle depicted in the painting took place in 1829, when the Russian brig Mercury was patrolling the Bosphorus. Due to the weak wind, he could not get away from the chase and was attacked by Turkish battleships Selimiye and Real Bay. With only 18 guns against 200 of the enemy, the brave little "Mercury" managed to damage both Turks and, having lost four people killed, return to Sevastopol.
The landing of Nikolai Raevsky near Subashi
The landing of Nikolai Raevsky near Subashi. 1839. Samara Regional Art Museum
The operation, which took place in 1839, the young Aivazovsky saw with his own eyes: Admiral Mikhail Lazarev invited him to witness the battles Caucasian War. Now Subashi is the Sochi district of Golovinka, and in those years these were wild Circassian territories. Raevsky landed troops at the mouth of the Shakhe and Subashi rivers, recaptured the territory from the highlanders and built a fort on it. Aivazovsky participated in the landing, making sketches. On the back of the painting there is an inscription: "Belongs to the eldest in the Raevsky family, without the right to sell."
Battle of Sinop November 18, 1853 (Night after the battle)
The Crimean War, of which he was a direct witness, Aivazovsky devoted more than one work. The battle of Sinop was almost the last major battle of sailing fleets - later the era of steam ships came, although Aivazovsky in his paintings will remain devoted to sails and yards for another half a century. The Russian fleet was headed by Vice Admiral Nakhimov. He also instructed Prince Viktor Baryatinsky to sketch out the layout of the ships on the spot, which was transferred to Aivazovsky for work. The artist wrote the picture really in hot pursuit.
- On November 30, 1853, Admiral Nakhimov destroyed the Turkish fleet at Cape Sinop. It took the great naval commander only 4.5 hours to completely defeat the enemy. The forces of the parties were approximately equal, but the losses were incomparable. The Russians lost 37 killed and 233 wounded. The Turkish squadron was almost completely destroyed: 15 out of 16 ships of various types were flooded, three thousand killed and wounded, two hundred prisoners, including Vice Admiral Osman Pasha.
- The Battle of Sinop is the last victory of the sailing fleet in world history. In the future, steamships ruled the ball in naval battles. In addition, the battle of Sinop was the first naval battle in which "bomb" guns were effectively used. Their effectiveness accelerated the transition to the creation of an armored fleet.
- Among the destroyed Turkish ships was the frigate "Fazli Allah" - " given by god". The frigate received this name in 1829, before that it was called "Archangel Raphael" and was part of the Black Sea Fleet. Under the St. Andrew's banner, the ship sailed for only a year. In May 1829, in the Sinop region, the Raphael ran into a Turkish squadron and surrendered without a fight, at the same time it received a new name. On June 4 of the same year, Emperor Nicholas I issued the following decree: “Hoping in the help of the Almighty, I am in the hope that the fearless Black Sea Fleet, eager to wash away the infamy of the frigate Raphael, will not leave it in the hands of the enemy. But when it is returned to our power, then, considering this frigate henceforth unworthy to carry the Flag of Russia and serve along with other ships of our fleet, I command you to put it on fire. After the battle of Sinop, Pavel Nakhimov reported to Nicholas: “Your will Imperial Majesty fulfilled - the frigate "Raphael" does not exist.
- The battle of Sinop was the first occasion in history for large-scale propaganda and distortion of facts in the newspapers. In the English press, the battle was called the "Massacre of Sinop". British newspapers churned out articles about the atrocities of ruthless Russian sailors who finished shooting the unfortunate wounded Turks floating in the sea. In fact, this sensation had no real basis. As Count Alexei Orlov wrote, “we are not forgiven for either skillful orders or the courage to carry it out.”
- The battle of Sinop was the first battle in which the sailor Koshka, who later became famous, distinguished himself, Reedus notes. At Sinop, he was noted for courage and marksmanship. He became the hero of all kinds of tales and stories during the defense of Sevastopol.
- The defeat of the Turkish fleet at Sinop had an extremely negative impact on an important branch of the Turkish economy - the slave trade. As soon as the Russian fleet seized dominance in the Black Sea, the prices of live goods skyrocketed. The situation changed only after the entry into the war of England and France. The European fleet changed the balance in the region, and the Turks quickly resumed a profitable business. Prices for people fell by a third. According to the Anglo-French press, in this way the Europeans defended "the rich, but somewhat peculiar Turkish culture."
- A great victory Russian fleet in the end turned out to be Pyrrhic. The defeat of the Turkish forces pushed France and Great Britain to enter the war on the side of the Ottoman Empire, which eventually led to the siege of Sevastopol and the defeat in the Crimean War.
- Having learned about the grandiose battle, Ivan Aivazovsky urgently went to Sevastopol. After interviewing the participants in the battle, the artist painted two paintings within a month: “The Naval Battle of Sinop on November 18, 1853” and “The Battle of Sinop. Night after the battle. The artist painted his last work according to the scheme of Prince Viktor Baryatinsky, which he sketched on the spot on behalf of Pyotr Nakhimov. Perhaps that is why the picture was praised by the admiral. “The picture is extremely well done,” said the naval commander. Zhukovsky, Medovikov, Krasovsky, Bogolyubov and others also devoted their paintings to this naval battle.
- The battle of Sinop was immortalized not only by painters. In 1878, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, at the request of his publisher Pyotr Jurgenson, wrote the march "Russian Voluntary Fleet" under the pseudonym P. Sinopov. The essay was published with the image of a sailboat on the title page and the inscription: "The entire collection, not excluding the cost of publication, is assigned to the fund for the purchase of cruisers." The great composer himself did not receive a penny for this: “There is no need for a fee, because I am also a patriot.”
- On the occasion of the forty-fifth anniversary of the Battle of Sinop, in 1898, a monument to Pavel Nakhimov was erected in Sevastopol. This monument stood for only 30 years. In 1928, in accordance with the decree "On the removal of monuments to the kings and their servants," the sculpture was dismantled. Nakhimov's pedestal was occupied by Lenin. However, the leader of the world proletariat stood there, too, nothing at all - until 1942. The German invaders sent the bronze Ilyich to be melted down. The Russian naval commander returned to his place in 1959. The recreated monument differs from the original: the Soviet Nakhimov became 130 centimeters taller than the royal one, turned to face the city, and instead of the captured saber of Osman Pasha, the naval commander’s hand rests on the hilt of the broadsword. This idea was presented to the sculptor Tomsky by Admiral Ivan Isakov: “The monument to Nakhimov in Sevastopol should also be a monument of glory to Russian weapons, so it would be better if the bronze Nakhimov appeared not with a Turkish saber, but with a Russian broadsword.”